A Handbook of the English Language

by R. G. Latham

[§ 212]. Accusative.—Some call this the objective case. The words him and them (whatever they may have been

originally) are now (to a certain extent) true accusatives. The accusative case is found in pronouns only. Thee, me, us, and you are, to a certain extent, true accusatives. These are accusative thus far: 1. They are not derived from any other case. 2. They are distinguished from the forms I, my, &c. 3. Their meaning is accusative. Nevertheless, they are only imperfect accusatives. They have no sign of case, and are distinguished by negative characters only.

One word in the present English is probably a true accusative in the strict sense of the term, viz., the word twain = two. The -n in twai-n is the -n in hine = him and hwone = whom. This we see from the following inflection:—

	Neut.	Masc.	Fem.
N. and Acc.	Twá,	Twégen,	Twá.
Abl. and Dat.	Twám,		Twǽm.
Gen.	Twegra,		Twega.

Although nominative as well as accusative, I have little doubt as to the original character of twégen being accusative. The -n is by no means radical; besides which, it is the sign of an accusative case, and is not the sign of a nominative.

[§ 213]. Dative.—In the antiquated word whilom (at times), we have a remnant of the old dative in -m. The sense of the word is abverbial; its form, however, is that of a dative case.

[§ 214]. Genitive.—Some call this the possessive case. It is found in substantives and pronouns (father's, his), but not in adjectives. It is formed like the nominative plural, by the addition of the lene sibilant (father, fathers; buck, bucks); or if the word end in -s, by that of -es (boxes, judges, &c.) It is found in both numbers:

the men's hearts; the children's bread. In the plural number, however, it is rare; so rare, indeed, that wherever the plural ends in s (as it almost always does), there is no genitive. If it were not so, we should have such words as fatherses, foxeses, princeses, &c.

[§ 215]. Instrumental.—The following extracts from Rask's "Anglo-Saxon Grammar," teach us that there exist in the present English two powers of the word spelt t-h-e, or of the so-called definite article—"The demonstrative pronouns are þæt, se, seó (id, is, ea), which are also used for the article; and þis, þes, þeós (hoc, hic, hæc). They are thus declined:—

	Neut.	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Masc.	Fem.
Sing N.	þæt	se	seó	þis	þes	þeós.
A.	þæt	þone	þá	þis	þisne	þás.
Abl.	þý		þǽre	þise		þisse.
D.	þám		þǽre	þisum		þisse.
G.	þæs		þǽre	þises		þisse.
Plur. N. and A.	þá			þás.
Abl. and D.	þám			þisum.
G.	þára.			þissa.